Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
Light display devices in which lamps of various sorts have been rotated about two, offset axes to produce different patterns, have been known for many years. Shigley U.S. Pat. No. 2,055,777 is an example of an early motor driven device. Klawitter patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,160 is an example of a mechanically driven device. None of the devices of the prior art, to the best of Applicant""s knowledge, have been hand-held.
One of the objects of this invention is to provide a lighting device in which one or more lights is rotated about two axes, which device is small and adapted to be hand-held.
Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the following description and accompanying drawings.
In accordance with this invention, generally stated, a hand-held light display device is provided which, in the embodiments shown, takes the form of a ball-point pen, although the device can take other forms, from a baby""s rattle to a baton.
The device has a barrel or handle, a transparent enclosure mounted on the handle and a light display mounted for rotation on the handle, visible through the transparent enclosure. The light display has a first rotating support and means for rotating that support. At least one light support is rotatably mounted on the first support, lamps are mounted on the light support, and means are provided for rotating the light support with respect to the first support when the first support is rotated. The lamps are thus rotated about two different axes, the axis of rotation of the first support and the axis of rotation of the light support. In the embodiments described, the first support is driven by a motor powered by batteries contained in the barrel. In the first embodiment, the light support is in the form of discs mounted for rotation on shafts carried by the first support, and rotated by virtue of the engagement of a roller with a rim of a fixed dish, the lamps being powered by the same batteries that power the motor, through brushes, sliding contacts, the use of which has been known since before Shigley patent U.S. Pat. No. 2,055,777.
In a second embodiment, a bracket, carried by the first support, carries a motor with a shaft extending perpendicularly to the axis of rotation of the first support, and rotating the light support. In the embodiment shown and described, both motors are powered by batteries contained in the barrel or handle.
In both embodiments described, the barrel or handle is the stem of an oversized ball-point pen. In one embodiment, the cartridge of the ball-point pen serves as a plunger to close a switch energizing a motor driving a first rotating disc.
In another embodiment, in which two motors are employed, one to rotate the first support, and the other, mounted on the first support, driving a light support, on which lamps are mounted on an axis of rotation perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the first support, the barrel is also illustrated as being part of a ball point pen, but the cartridge of the pen does not serve the function of a switch actuator, a separate switch being provided, mounted in the side wall of the barrel.